India Secures Defense Presence on Chagos Islands

 

India has secured agreement from the government of Mauritius allowing it to establish a satellite station in the Chagos archipelago, according to reports in the Indian media outlets The Economic Times and The Times of India. The purpose of the new station, according to the reports, will be to track satellites and “to serve as a strategic asset for monitoring the region,” a formula normally used to describe SIGINT collection sites. 

The report does not give a precise location for the new facility, which has probably not yet been fixed, but postulates it will be “near the Diego Garcia US-UK strategic base.” It is not clear how the site will be serviced. The Indian ambition is likely to be to create a similar facility to that it has already established on Agaléga, an island belonging to Mauritius, which, despite denials, India has already for practical purposes annexed.

Mauritius is heavily dependent on India’s support and goodwill, under which Mauritius operates as an offshore financial center for India. When the agreement was signed, India’s Prime Minister Modi said he had always supported decolonization of the Chagos, and that while “India and Mauritius are two nations, our dreams and destiny are one.”

Also part of the Indian-Mauritius agreement, which was made during an eight-day visit of Mauritius PM Navinchandra Ramgoolam to New Delhi in September, was a plan to allow Indian naval vessels to conduct hydrographic surveys of the archipelago, most of which was a closed Marine Protected Area when administered by the British Indian Ocean Territory. Such surveys would be necessary if India’s Arihant-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines are to operate in Chagos waters. Currently, INS Arihant (S2), INS Arighaat (S3), and INS Aridhaman (S4) are in service, and a fourth boat in the class was launched last year.

The deal also calls for the refitting of a Mauritius Coast Guard ship to prepare it for patrol duties in the Chagos, and the provision of $680 million in aid, some of which is allocated to “development of the Chagos Marine Protected Area.” A hallmark of the British-administered marine protection area was that it was not developed and preserved in its pristine natural state.

Mauritius and the United Kingdom formally signed the sovereignty handover agreement on May 25, 2025, but the ratification process is not yet complete. The deal envisages continued U.S. use of the Diego Garcia Naval Support Facility, but under a lease-back arrangement once the UK has closed down the British Indian Ocean Territory. 

The principal advocate for the handover agreement within the British government, Attorney General Lord Hermer, and the lead British negotiator, Jonathan Powell, are both currently under scrutiny in Parliament, after the prosecution of two British nationals for spying for China was dropped before the case came to court, apparently in an attempt to avoid upsetting China. Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has recently described Jonathan Powell, who is the UK National Security Adviser, as “strategically an absolute fool,” and that “Mauritius is a close ally of the Chinese Communist Party and not only will we lose Diego Garcia, but you will have Chinese power projection from Diego Garcia.” Opposition parties in the United Kingdom have promised to reverse the deal should they displace the current government.